Run #10 - May 21st, 2012

I finally bought a few new songs to add to my iPod playlist - Nicki Minaj! I was pretty excited about adding two of her tracks to my overused playlist, because I love singing the songs, they are poppy and peppy and figured it might bring a little skip to my step if they popped up in the middle of a longer run. I was determined to run 4 miles this morning, wishing I could somehow make it more, since I am still fairly far behind on being ready for this half marathon which is now a month away.

A mile into my run, that lingering thought was still in my mind. "Why couldn't I add on to my loop and make it a little longer? Maybe I should continue down the road for just a half mile more and turn around. I know this stretch of the road is flat. Then I would finally be at 5 miles." Then I was there, at the stoplight, wondering if I should make the initial turn on my loop, or challenge myself to run a little further, when Nicki decided to grace my ear buds with her bubble gum melody. To hell with it, I should enjoy the motivation and add to the run. If I die out here, my roommate knows to come looking for my body (I give him strict instructions before I leave the house on a run, letting him know where I might be lying dead from exhaustion, and to come find me if too much time has passed). 

And that was that. I was off for my first ever, 5 mile run. The music was pumping, the sun was blaring, but the pavement was flat and made it easy to add the extra distance on my run. About mile 3, I realized I was just over halfway home and that made me a bit sick, thinking I still had two more miles to go, wondering if it would be possible, but then Nicki came back on and shouted "BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BABY!" and that is all it took to get my feet back in a rhythm. 

Around mile 4, I discovered running blisters. Then my friend, negative profanity came seeping back into my running repertoire. "Fuck. I hate running. Who likes to exercise when it brings this kind of pain? Running this much obviously isn't good for people. 4 miles must be the boundary between a good workout and pushing yourself too far. Screw this half marathon".

Logical thought took over a little while later, reminding me that I had literally come so far and I only had a short distance to go and that quitting now, would be, well, quitting. And I should take this moment to appreciate the challenge and to finish the damn run and deal with the growing pocket of pain once I got home. I also reminded myself that the faster I ran, the sooner it would be over, so I might as well buck up and get it over with. 

So I made it. 5 miles. First time ever. 

Lesson Learned: Spicing things up is good. Sweating on your feet is bad. 

Distance: 5.16 miles

Time: 56:53